PBS高端访谈:Facebook创始人扎克伯格夫妇改变了慈善捐助的形式

 　　GWEN IFILL: It's a very different kind of baby gift. Facebook co-founder¹ and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced yesterday the birth of his daughter with a most unusual letter.

　　He and his wife, Priscilla Chan, will donate 99 percent of their shares in the social media giant, an estimated $45 billion as of today, to charity. The couple created the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a limited liability corporation, on personalized learning, curing diseases and building strong communities.

　　They released a short video on Facebook explaining their decision.

　　MARK ZUCKERBERG, Founder, Facebook: Having this child has made us think about all the things that should be improved in the world for her whole generation. The only way that we reach our full human potential is if we're able to unlock the gift of every person around the world.

　　PRISCILLA CHAN, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative: We want to make sure we invest in programs that ensure that the future isn't going to be like today; the future is going to be better than today.

　　GWEN IFILL: We get more insight into this decision and the larger context from Stacy Palmer, editor of "The Chronicle of Philanthropy."Welcome.

　　Facebook创始人扎克伯格夫妇改变了慈善捐助的形式STACY PALMER, The Chronicle of Philanthropy: Happy to join you.

　　GWEN IFILL: Explain to us what the difference is between — you noticed I mentioned that it was a limited liability corporation — between that and a normal nonprofit that we have heard — we have heard of people with money creating foundations before, but this seemed different.

　　STACY PALMER: This is quite different. This isn't like the Gates Foundation.

　　And I think that Mark Zuckerberg is saying that philanthropy, the way it works now isn't working so well and we need a different kind of model.

　　So, this limited liability corporation, we don't know a lot of details about how it will work, but what is different is, it doesn't have the same kinds of limits on lobbying that foundations have right now. It can do more investing. It doesn't have to disclose as much information as a foundation does. It doesn't face the requirement that you give at least 5 percent of grants each year.

　　So there are some good things in terms of the flexibility² it gives to the donor³. There are some concerns as well though about the public interest, and I think we're going to hear a lot more about that in the coming days.

　　GWEN IFILL: So, how big a player has Silicon⁴ Valley now become in philanthropy overall? We keep hearing about this. And we know that almost every name we recognize in that area of the country in the tech world seems to have their own foundation.

　　STACY PALMER: It's huge. It's amazing.

　　Among the biggest philanthropists now, the tech industry is more dominant⁵ than the financial industry, which we never saw in the world of philanthropy. So, clearly, lots and lots of people in tech are giving. And I think will be an important symbol for those who haven't given or are thinking about giving bigger, that they want to follow in the steps that Mark and Priscilla have set.

　　GWEN IFILL: So, this is different from the days of the Mellons, the Carnegie, the Fords, the Rockefellers?

　　STACY PALMER: Very, very different. They're very activist⁷. They want to do philanthropy differently.

　　And I think that they're frustrated⁸. There are all these problems that haven't been solved and they look out and they say, why hasn't philanthropy done more? And they want to make a difference. So, I'm sure they sought the counsel of a lot of people in philanthropy as they thought about doing this and decided⁹, we need a new approach.

　　GWEN IFILL: If you were running a charitable institution and you were looking for deep pockets, does this change the way you approach people like Facebook founders¹⁰?

　　STACY PALMER: It absolutely does.

　　It's very challenging for nonprofit people in general to be able to get access to folks in Silicon Valley. And one of the things they really complain about is that it's very hard to get their views, their ideas, to really sort of get them to think about things in new ways.

　　And this process of setting off this limited liability company isn't going to help that process any more. But I think what is hopeful is that the Newark gift that got so much criticism by Mark Zuckerberg, I think he learned a lot of lessons from that.

　　GWEN IFILL: He gave $100 million.

　　STACY PALMER: Dollars to Newark schools to improve them, and he got roundly criticized as a failure. And I think you saw signs in the letter that he wrote yesterday that he's really learned some lessons from that.

　　GWEN IFILL: Does it make a big difference when people start giving young? These are not people who are old. These are not end-of-life bequests¹¹.

　　STACY PALMER: That's the huge part.

　　They have all of this time to learn, to think, to do things differently. In the past, we used to see people giving money in their 70s or 80s. They gave it, they didn't think much about it, and then we had these perpetual foundations like Rockefeller and Ford⁶ exist forever and ever without those lessons.

　　So, what is fabulous¹² is that these people, during their lives, can change their minds about what they're giving and really learn from their mistakes, at least we hope they will.

　　GWEN IFILL: But as you pointed¹³ out earlier, they obviously will be open to some criticism. And part of that criticism is that they're not accountable to any public either elected officials or the public at all.

　　They can decide what's important and, by definition, what's not important.

　　STACY PALMER: That's the biggest concern that people have.

　　It just feels to a lot of people like a lot of injection of more money into politics and rich people deciding things without being elected.

　　GWEN IFILL: To be clear, they're talking about politics as part of these goals, their goals.

　　STACY PALMER: Absolutely.

　　The fact that they wanted to have this set up so that they could do more lobbying and be involved in advocacy is a sign that they intend to influence public policy. We've already seen that with the Gates Foundation certainly trying to influence education and health. And that's in the old-style foundation. So I think we are going to see a lot of controversy¹⁴ because of that.

　　GWEN IFILL: Stacy Palmer at "The Chronicle of Philanthropy," thank you very much.

　　STACY PALMER: Thank you.

 

1 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

2 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

3 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

4 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

5 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

6 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

7 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

8 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

11 bequests   

n.遗赠( bequest的名词复数 )；遗产，遗赠物

参考例句：

• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He left bequests of money to all his friends. 他留下一些钱遗赠给他所有的朋友。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

12 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

13 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

14 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。